Visions in Darkness
by Elle the ebil bunny
Summary: He's been left alone, blinded by a terrible incident. Problem is, he can't remember any of it. Still, he is haunted by flashes of pain...Frustrated though he is, he struggles on, relearning the lessons of life. ItaNaruSasu love triangle
1. Flashes of Pain

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does…

Chapter 1

Flashes of Pain

The boy kicked and punched unseeingly at the tree stump continuously. He continued his daily warm-up of push-ups, sit-ups, laps around the forest until they came. They always attacked randomly and unexpectedly, the flashes. This one was the most frightening however… and the most realistic…

_The room was dark, and he was chained to the wall. Men came in with various objects. They grabbed the tools and started torturing him. Various knives were pushed into his body slowly and twisted. One man stepped forward and cut his body from chest to right above the belly button. He grunted and yelled in pain. Blood spilled out, covering the boy and the man. The men laughed maniacally and continued their torture, reveling in the boy's screams of pain._

"_Demon boy, you don't even deserve to live… You actually think that your weak little Leaf friends care about you?"_

He sat down on the grass, gasping. His blond hair was matted to his head; his forehead dripping with sweat. The flashes seemed to be coming more frequently and stronger now. He started feeling pain on his body, like the knives were piercing them, just like in the flash. His breath seemed to not come back to him as he felt the trees to follow back to his destination. Every breath he inhaled pained him, the knives were still stabbing at him.

The blonde grabbed onto the tree nearest him, his nails digging into the bark; desperately trying not to give into his pain. The knives multiplied, striking faster and harder. Images came, unbidden, back to him.

_The men advanced with different tools this time. They grabbed his hair, yanking at it, and then shoved him into the brick wall. Blood spilled down his head and his hair was turned an orange shade. His jaws were clenched and his eyes were shut in pain. Dark blood turned his blue clothes almost black. There were tears in his clothes, over his stomach, revealing a mysterious mark around his belly button. He refused to open his mouth when they tried to pour a liquid down his throat. In anger, one of the men took a knife, stabbing it into his arm. He opened his mouth to scream in pain. The man took the chance to pour the sticky fluid down his throat, choking him in the process. _

He grabbed his head in an attempt to stop the images. His attempts were in vain as the throbbing became more intense.

_The sticky liquid dripped heavily down his throat. He gasped for his breath as the fluid painfully went down. Then the pain hit… A searing pain shot up his back and struck his eyes, like needles. A white film came over his eyes, covering them and his image wavered and faded away_. He briefly yearned for his vision again…but instantly dismissed such thoughts, he could prevail without seeing. _Soon, all he could see was black. He hit the cold hard floor in pain and the only thing he could hear was laughter, cruel laughter. _

He gave into the pain, falling to his knees. As he fell, he could hear the leaves rustling as a figure stepped through the bushes. He was in too much pain to care if the figure was harmful or not. He tried looking up in curiosity, and remembered that he could not see anything but visions. The figure spoke in a low whisper, "Kitsune…" Before he fell into unconsciousness, the boy strained to get a name out, "Itachi…"

A/N: Yay to C-Entury, my blink buddy for editing my story and tweaking it. You deserve a glomp! This is a special debut fic that I created for my b-day. Please read and review!


	2. A Dull in Personality

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, why would I be writing fanfiction if I owned Naruto? If I owned Naruto, I would probably kill off Sakura. (Sorry to all you Sakura lovers out there)

Visions in Darkness

Chapter 2

A Dull in Personality

The blonde cracked his eyes open. He panicked for a slight second when he found he could not see, but the alarm was gone in a flash when he remembered with a sad smile that he no longer had ability to see. That ability, his sight, was ripped away from him by monsters, worse monsters than himself.

With that, the blonde remembered what had happened before he fainted. The bed that he now laid on was quite comfortable, unlike the one he was used to sleeping on. This mattress was the first comfy one he had laid in for years. He got up from the bed and tried to stand. He regretted this action soon after as his legs wobbled like jelly and caused him to fall to the hard floor. "Chikusho…" he muttered.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a smooth voice cut in. Naruto raised his head, half in panic and half in embarrassment. "Who are you?" he called out into the room. The man hesitated in answering, taken aback at the fact that the blonde could not recognize him. But then, he realized that his eyes seemed to be dulled in comparison and the boy did not look directly at him.

"I said, who are you," Naruto started to get angry and his charka flared up. He knew that the man would just try to tease him and hurt him, just like all the others did in the past…

"Calm down, kitsune… My name is Itachi, Uchiha Itachi," At this, Naruto calmed and pondered at the name. It seemed familiar. "I-ta-chi…" _Who could he be? Is he one of my enemies, or is he an ally? He'll probably just try to hurt me… _Naruto grit his teeth as he remembered how the others had treated him…

_Go away! My okaa-san said that you're a demon, I don't want to play with you!_

_Shine, bakemono!_

_You think your friends are going to come rescue you… they're probably celebrating right now!_

"I won't hurt you kitsune, I'm here to help you, so don't think otherwise…" Itachi did his best to sound comforting, which was like a rock talking to a wall.

Naruto growled, "I don't need your help, I can do fine on my own. After all, I've been surviving on my own for a while now, haven't I?" Naruto's voice dripped with hatred as he attempted to get up again, only to regret it once again. His legs weren't functioning properly and refused to stand firm, and Naruto fell yet again, only this time, he didn't meet the cold, bare floor. Itachi had caught him right before he could meet the ground. Naruto nestled into his arms, feeling safe and secure in the warm arms.

"Getting comfortable, aren't we now?" Naruto could just hear the smirk in Itachi's voice, he didn't need to see anything. He blushed and mumbled, "Well, it's not like you're pulling away either are you? Anyway, it's not all the time that someone actually cares enough to catch me when I fall…" Naruto's voice dropped to a whisper as he said, "Arigato…"

Itachi's eyes widened as he realized all the hate that his kitsune had been going through. All the loneliness, with no one to guide him or love him, and he still managed to grow up kind-hearted and determined. Itachi vowed to compensate for Naruto's loneliness and give him the love he had wanted.

"Kitsune, you should rest, I don't want you injuring yourself any further…" Naruto looked down and smiled a tiny grin. It was nothing compared to his old fox grin, as Itachi noted. The half-smile was full of pain and sadness.

Itachi picked him up and carried him to the bed, pulling the covers over him, though not too tight as to strangle him. He left the room, only pausing one to take one last glance at the boy.

Once out, Itachi seethed in anger at all the pain that his kitsune was put through; pain that the young one hadn't deserved. His smile was now the one of a young man who was plagued with loneliness and had been cast away by others. His once bright sky blue eyes were dulled over in darkness and loss. His once energetic, shocking blonde hair was dulled away into a platinum blonde striped with streaks of red, red like the Sharingan eyes. Red, the color of hate and yet, the color of love… But the most obvious change was in his personality. The blonde's personality was not as boisterous as it used to be, but at least he still seemed to have his determination, though there was a quite big change in his ways…

Itachi made up his mind to train Naruto. He would train him to be strong so that he would be able to protect himself from the real monsters in the world. He would train him until the boy didn't need him anymore and would be able to travel on his own. When he recovered, Itachi would commence the training. Naruto would need to get strong as soon as possible before Orochimaru would find out that he wasn't dead. Itachi would take his revenge on Orochimaru for slaughtering his clan and framing him for it. Naruto would need to be very strong by the time the Akatsuki would come after Itachi for betraying them…

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A/N:

Thanks to all who have reviewed my story:

Kyuubi-kun

C-Entury: my editor and blink buddy!

Anei Akuma: Thanks. Naruto is about 14 years old right now.

DeAtHaNgEL-LaVeNdA

KU

thuyhy-thuyhy

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Hopefully, I will be rolling in even more reviews soon… Sorry that this chapter is extremely short, I couldn't really think of anything more to write about. If I had extended it even more, it would have been repeating itself over and over and over again. 


	3. Farewells

Disclaimer: Me no own Naruto…

Visions in Darkness

Chapter 3- Farewells

Naruto grunted as he took a blow to his stomach. He recovered quickly and dodged the next hit, aiming to kick at his opponent's legs. His opponent flipped backwards to dodge Naruto's sweep. For the fleeting moment that he was in the air, he performed a few seals before placing his fingers in a circle before his mouth.

"Katon: Ryuuka Housenka no jutsu" A flaming ball of fire flew out of his mouth and Naruto defended himself with a simple water jutsu, "Suiton: Sujinheki" The two elements clashed together and canceled out. Naruto looked up as the smoke cleared away. He searched for his opponent, who had taken the chance to hide.

"Right, left, up… It has to be-" A hand shot up from the ground, "Doton: Shunjuu Zanshu no jutsu" "Down!" Naruto jumped up as the hand neared him. Suddenly, the hand disappeared from the ground in a puff of smoke. "Bunshin…?" A familiar whistling sound neared him and Naruto whipped his body around to catch the kunai nearing him. At the same time, he pulled his arms up to block the punch that was thrown at him. Naruto struck back with a barrage of attacks, aiming randomly, as to prevent his opponent from reading his next move. "An opening!" He reared his arm back and gathered up a ball of chakra. The chakra whirled in his hand and he thrust his arm forward. "You let your guard down… Itachi." Naruto grinned foxily as he said this; it was rare a time when Itachi would actually act recklessly in a battle.

"Or so you think," Itachi smirked and flicked Naruto's forehead with his finger. Naruto slid back a few feet and Itachi dashed towards him, pinning him down, kunai ready and to Naruto's throat. "You've gotten better, Naruto, I remember a time where you didn't last a second against me."

"Oh, here comes the egotistical side of the Almighty Uchiha." Naruto joked sarcastically.

"Why don't you just admit that I'm better than you, and I'll get off of you?" Itachi reasoned.

"No way in hell! I don't want to boost that already inflated ego of yours!" Naruto smiled inwardly as he reminisced about a time when Itachi would only say "Hn" to him. His conversational skills were still lacking, but only by a little now.

"Well, you have gotten better, especially with finding me through my chakra." Itachi said.

"It's not very hard to find you, your chakra is extremely dark, it stands out against the pure white chakra of nature. Now, why don't you get off me, you're gonna crush me. Have you been sneaking candy, Itachi-koi?" Naruto smiled mischievously as Itachi blushed at the title he had been given. "Two years, and you still blush." Naruto snickered at this. He remembered the time when he had been offered training from Itachi. It was right after he had recovered from his injuries.

_He was about to leave the house to set out on the way to the forest, leaving a note for the man who had taken care of him, when he was stopped. "Matte," a low voice told him._

"_Nani," he asked. _

"_Would you like to receive training from me?" the man inquired._

"_Naze? What's your purpose?" Naruto asked back._

"_My purpose is to keep you safe until you can protect yourself. So, will you accept?" _

_Naruto thought about it for a while until reasoning with himself that the man seemed to be trustworthy. He nodded, "Hai." _

_That day, they started Naruto's training, starting with 100 push-ups, sit-ups, etc., the exercises started becoming more vigorous as the days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into years. Their relationship bloomed and was nurtured everyday. They were lovers in their own time, but comrades during training._

Naruto was snapped out of his memories when the earth shook- from a powerful force, no doubt. The two swiftly stood up, not bothering to brush off the dirt on their clothes. They bent into their fighting stances. The smoke from the explosion cleared and two figures could be made out. The figures walked toward the couple, revealing themselves. "Orochimaru, Kabuto."

"Hello, Itachi-kun. Long time no see, ne?" Orochimaru laughed. Then it seemed he saw the person Itachi was standing in front of, protecting. "Oh, Itachi, who's the little one behind you, you're new whore?" Itachi clenched his teeth and ran towards the snake man, aiming for a punch to his head. A silver blur blocked the blow and ran towards Naruto. Itachi was too clouded with rage to stop Kabuto.

Kabuto picked Naruto up by the neck, causing the hood covering his blonde hair to slip off.

"Ah, Naruto-kun, still alive, I see."

"Who are you?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Let go of him, bastard!" Itachi sped towards Kabuto, feinting a punch, giving Naruto the chance to escape and drive a kunai into Kabuto's arm. Naruto ran to stand next to Itachi, watching in amazement as Kabuto healed his arm. A hand on his shoulder prevented him from attacking again. "Naruto, I want you to run away."

"Hell no! I'm gonna–" He was cut off as Itachi yelled at him, "Naruto! I want you to run. You stand no chance against them without your sight." Naruto clenched his fists at his sides. His disability had held him back from reaching his potential. "Onegai, koi! I don't want to lose you!" Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. Itachi hardly showed his affection in public. His eyes darkened and he said, "And what about me? What am I supposed to do? I can't just run away, knowing that your life is in danger."

"You're going to have to trust me. I promise, I'll come back and find you. But for now, you have to leave!" Itachi pleaded.

"Who are these people to me? How do they know my name? Why don't I remember them?" Naruto asked. Itachi sighed at this, debating with himself whether or not to tell Naruto about his life. He finally came up with a solution, "I'll tell you when we meet later. Leave now!" Itachi ordered Naruto.

"Fine, I'll run, but you better come back. Well then, goodbye Itachi." Itachi grabbed the kitsune's face and pulled him up into a kiss. As Itachi released him, he whispered, "It's never goodbye, just see you later." The moment was ruined by the sound of clapping and a hideous voice.

"Aw, how sweet. Now, Itachi-kun, would you like to fight? Or are you going to hand over the boy?" Orochimaru smiled sadistically.

"Naruto, RUN!" Naruto complied with the order, speeding away as fast as he could. As soon as Naruto was gone, Itachi turned to face Orochimaru. "I'll never let you get to Naruto. Bring it on." Orochimaru and Itachi ran towards each other, both pulling out a kunai to attack each other. Kabuto stood on the sidelines, if Orochimaru got hurt, he would heal him, or he would fight Itachi himself.

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As Itachi told him to leave, Naruto sped off into the forest, dodging the trees as tears trailed down his cheeks. "Aishiteru, Itachi."

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Vocabulary 

Aishiteru- I love you

Bunshin- (Clone/Split Body Skill) A jutsu that creates an illusionary clone of the user, in numbers of 1 or more. The Clone disappears after being struck with an attack, and can deal no damage.

Doton: Shunjuu Zanshu no jutsu- (Inner Decapitation Skill) The user hides beneath the ground, and reaches up to grab their opponent. The opponent is then pulled under the ground, up to their chin, allowing the head to be subject to move powerful jutsu.

Katon: Ryuuka Housenka no jutsu- (Fire Type; Dragon Fire Skill) A jutsu that sends a stream of fire towards the opponent, originating from the users mouth.

Jutsu- technique

Koi- love

Matte- wait

Nani- what

Naze- why

Onegai- please

Suiton: Sujinheki- (Water Type; Water Barrier Wall) Creates a blast of water from the mouth, usually used to block fire type attacks.

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A/N: Thankies to Confetti for editing my story… Huggies! I want a M-plushie too! Arigato to all who have actually reviewed my story, and please, people who have put me on author alert, can u just send me a review, even if it is one word? Thanks. I'm gonna go back to hugging an imaginary M-plushie now…Oh yea, and special thanks to naruto chuushin for the jutsu list.

By the way, I'm very sorry to all readers of my story for lateness… I've been really busy lately, what with a math proj (making a stupid scale model of a school) and packing to move. Hope you can forgive me! (bows)

I just want to make this clear, the two (Itachi and Naru-chan) only have a few seconds to say bye, so thats why it might seem fast. They're in the midst of battle.


	4. Do I Know You?

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Sakura would dead and Naruto would have had a boyfriend by now…

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**Visions in Darkness**  
Do I Know You?

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For days, Naruto ran, stopping only to rest for an hour or so, only when he was completely exhausted; and even then, he didn't sit still for long. He cursed himself when he realized that his choice of masks seemed to stop the circulating of air on his face. 

He wore a white bandana over his hair, so he wouldn't attract _too_ much attention. He also wore a black facemask to hide his supposed "birth marks." Naruto endured the stifling heat until he came across large gates, the words "Konohagakure no Sato" written in Kanji across the top.

Of course, Naruto couldn't see the words, but the feel of the hustle and bustle of life in the village was enough for Naruto to approach the gates. As he tried to walk past the gates, someone stopped him. "Verification, please."

"I don't have any…" His voice was muffled a little by the mask over his face.

"Well, then you can't enter." The guard said in a firm voice.

"Teme… I'm tired, and he won't let me in," mumbled an aggravated Naruto. He turned to walk away until he bumped into something… or someone. "Itai! Teme, watch where you're going!"

"Why don't you, you walk like a blind man." The person he had bumped into spat back.

"That's 'cause I am, teme. What's your name, anyway?"

Teme... he hadn't heard that insult from anyone for a while, not since... No, he couldn't dwell on that. But then, this man seemed so much like him, he even seemed to be around the same age. "Gomen, I mean, about the insult. My name is Uchiha Sasuke. What is yours?"

"Uchiha, eh? Are you related to an Uchiha Itachi by any chance?" 'Itachi never told me about any relatives he had...'

"Itachi…" Sasuke growled out, remembering the man who had ruined his life. His eyes slowly turned red at the mention of the man. Naruto could see that the mention of Itachi had some sort of result on the man in front of him; his chakra color, which was navy, had started changing when a stream of red started seeping through.

Sasuke lifted up the petite blond by his collar and demanded, "How do you know Uchiha Itachi?"

"I won't tell you." Naruto put his smaller hand over Sasuke's wrist, and forcefully pulled it off his collar, happy to have his feet back on the ground.

Angry at the response, Sasuke swung his arm, aiming for Naruto's head and expecting to make contact when Naruto leaned to the side, effectively dodging at the punch. This only proved to make Sasuke more furious, and he let loose an onslaught of attacks, each one dodged expertly by the mysterious young man.

He was about to strike again, when a familiar voice stopped him, "Oi, Sasuke. You shouldn't be bothering people you don't know."

Sasuke's head turned towards the voice, "Hn." He assumed his calm exterior, while on the inside, he was flaming with anger. He put his hands in his pockets and walked away, towards the village, Naruto noted.

As soon as Sasuke had left their sight, Kakashi turned to the young man just in time to see him run his hand through his hair, bandana hanging from his neck. The golden hair struck him as familiar, but he shook his head as he knew that his old student had been claimed dead. His thoughts were changed as he saw the blonde's eyes…

Sky blue eyes, no longer filled with that innocence.

As Kakashi looked closer into the cerulean depths, he could see the determination of a young man who would do anything to protect the ones precious to him.

These were the eyes of his old student, the loud-mouthed brat who could and would do anything to protect his friends. The same loud-mouthed brat that had changed so many lives and was still hated by many. The same loud-mouthed brat that had been kidnapped and brutally murdered by Orochimaru and his Sound-nin...

The same loud-mouthed brat that could possibly be standing right in the middle of the road leading to Konoha.

Kakashi leaped down from the branch he had been occupying and stood, arms crossed, in front of the blond.

"Who are you and what business do you have here?"

"Uzumaki Naruto, I'm here to –" He was cut off by Kakashi's voice, laced with concern.

"Naruto? Where have you been? Everyone was all worried about you and…" Kakashi never rambled, unless something amazing happened, and this was worthy of being deemed 'amazing.' He never knew that his life could simply fall apart at the command of four words… but it did.

"Do I know you?"

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A/N: I'm very very sorry for not updating in a very long time! It's just that being "gifted" is stressful... and with all the excitement and my friend moving to Brazil... I don't want him to leave... Well, thanks to Spr1te Zer0 (formerly know as C-Entury) for editing and tweaking my story... and I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter even though it's really short... Please review... and, where should I go with the next chapter? I'm not sure because originally, this chapter wasn't even going to be included... anyway... yea 


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